1.
Zodiac
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The zodiac is an area of the sky centered upon the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The paths of the Moon and visible planets also remain close to the ecliptic, within the belt of the zodiac, in western astrology and astronomy, the zodiac is divided into twelve signs, each sign occupying 30° of celestial longitude. Because the signs are regular, they do not correspond exactly to the boundaries of the twelve constellations after which they are named, the English word zodiac derives from zōdiacus, the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek zōidiakòs kýklos, meaning circle of little animals. Zōidion is the diminutive of zōion, the name reflects the prominence of animals among the twelve signs. The construction of the zodiac is described in Ptolemys vast 2nd century AD work, the term zodiac may also refer to the region of the celestial sphere encompassing the paths of the planets corresponding to the band of about eight arc degrees above and below the ecliptic. The zodiac of a planet is the band that contains the path of that particular body, e. g. the zodiac of the Moon is the band of five degrees above. By extension, the zodiac of the comets may refer to the band encompassing most short-period comets, the division of the ecliptic into the zodiacal signs originates in Babylonian astronomy during the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The zodiac draws on stars in earlier Babylonian star catalogues, such as the MUL. APIN catalogue, around the end of the 5th century BC, Babylonian astronomers divided the ecliptic into twelve equal signs, by analogy to twelve schematic months of thirty days each. Each sign contained thirty degrees of longitude, thus creating the first known celestial coordinate system. Because the division was made into equal arcs, 30° each, in Babylonian astronomical diaries, a planet position was generally given with respect to a zodiacal sign alone, less often in specific degrees within a sign. When the degrees of longitude were given, they were expressed with reference to the 30° of the zodiacal sign, in astronomical ephemerides, the positions of significant astronomical phenomena were computed in sexagesimal fractions of a degree. For daily ephemerides, the positions of a planet were not as important as the astrologically significant dates when the planet crossed from one zodiacal sign to the next. The Babylonian star catalogs entered Greek astronomy in the 4th century BC, Babylonia or Chaldea in the Hellenistic world came to be so identified with astrology that Chaldean wisdom became among Greeks and Romans the synonym of divination through the planets and stars. Hellenistic astrology derived in part from Babylonian and Egyptian astrology, horoscopic astrology first appeared in Ptolemaic Egypt. The Dendera zodiac, a dating to ca.50 BC, is the first known depiction of the classical zodiac of twelve signs. The earliest extant Greek text using the Babylonian division of the zodiac into 12 signs of 30 equal degrees each is the Anaphoricus of Hypsicles of Alexandria. Particularly important in the development of Western horoscopic astrology was the astrologer and astronomer Ptolemy, whose work Tetrabiblos laid the basis of the Western astrological tradition. Under the Greeks, and Ptolemy in particular, the planets, Houses, Ptolemy lived in the 2nd century AD, three centuries after the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes by Hipparchus around 130 BC
2.
Animal
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
3.
Chinese zodiac
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The Chinese zodiac is a classification scheme that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. The 12-year cycle is an approximation to the 11. 86-year orbital period of Jupiter, nevertheless, there are major differences, the Chinese 12-part cycle corresponds to years, rather than months. The Chinese zodiac is represented by 12 animals, whereas some of the signs in the Western zodiac are not animals, the animals of the Chinese zodiac are not associated with constellations spanned by the ecliptic plane. The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, the following are the twelve zodiac signs in order and their characteristics. It is a misconception that the animals assigned by year are the only signs. In fact, there are also animal signs assigned by month, by day, while a person might appear to be a Dragon because they were born in the year of the Dragon, they might also be a Snake internally, an Ox truly, and a Goat secretively. A conflict between a persons zodiac sign and how they live is known as tai sui or kai sui, within the Four Pillars, the year is the pillar representing information about the persons family background and society or relationship with their grandparents. The persons age can also be deduced from the sign of the person, the current sign of the year. For example, a person who is a Tiger is either 12,24,36 or 48 years old in 2010, in 2011, the year of the Rabbit, that person is one year older. The following table shows the 60-year cycle matched up to the Western calendar for the years 1924–2043, the sexagenary cycle begins at lichun about February 4 according to some astrological sources. Within the Four Pillars, the month is the pillar representing information about the parents or childhood. Many Chinese astrologers consider the month pillar to be the most important one in determining the circumstances of ones adult life, the 12 animals are also linked to traditional Chinese agricultural calendar, which runs alongside the better known lunar calendar. Instead of months, this calendar is divided into 24 two week segments known as Solar Terms, each animal is linked to two of these solar terms for a period similar to the Western month. Again unlike the cycle of the years, which begins with the Rat. Around summer days are longer than days, because it occurs differences of perihelion and aphelion. As each sign is linked to a month of the solar year, each of the elements is also linked to a season, and the element that shares a season with a sign is known as that signs fixed element. In other words, that element is believed to some of its characteristics to the sign concerned. The fixed element of each sign applies also to the year and hour signs and it is important to note that the fixed element is separate from the cycle of elements which interact with the signs in the 60-year cycle
4.
East Asia
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East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, it covers about 12,000,000 km2, or about 28% of the Asian continent, the East Asian people comprise more than 1.5 billion people. About 38% of the population of Asia and 22%, or over one fifth, the overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre, about three times the world average of 45/km2. Historically, societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, major religions include Buddhism, Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China and Taiwan, Shinto in Japan, Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians and other populations of northern East Asia. The Chinese calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived, Chinese Dynasties dominated the region in matters of culture, trade, and exploration as well as militarily for a very long time. There are records of tributes sent overseas from the kingdoms of Korea. There were also considerable levels of cultural and religious exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms, as connections began to strengthen with the Western world, Chinas power began to diminish. Around the same time, Japan solidified itself as a nation state, throughout World War II, Korea, Taiwan, much of eastern China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam all fell under Japanese control. Culturally, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia, there are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not. Vietnam Siberia in Russia Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, however, in this context, the term Far East is often more appropriate which covers ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. However, being a Eurocentric term, Far East describes the geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term Asia Pacific Region is often used in describing East Asia and this usage, which is seen in economic and diplomatic discussions, is at odds with the historical meanings of both East Asia and Northeast Asia. The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea, the military and economic superpower of China became the largest economy in the world in 2014, surpassing the United States of America. Currently in East Asia, trading systems are open, and zero or low duties on imports of consumer and capital goods etc. have considerably helped stimulate cost-efficiency. Free and flexible labor and other markets are important factors making for high levels of business-economic performance. East Asian populations have demonstrated highly positive work ethics, there are relatively large and fast-growing markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds. The culture of East Asia has been influenced by the civilisation of China, East Asia, as well as Vietnam, share a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, and historically a common writing system
5.
Chinese mythology
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Chinese mythology includes creation myths and legends, such as myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state. As in many mythologies, Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be, at least in part. Some myths are widely shared across multiple ethnic groups, but may exist as versions with some differences, historians have written evidence of Chinese mythological symbolism from the 12th century BC in the Oracle bone script. Legends were passed down for over a thousand years before being written in such as Classic of Mountains. Other myths continued to be passed down through oral traditions like theater, imperial historical documents and philosophical canons such as Book of Rites, Records of the Grand Historian, Book of Documents, and Lüshi Chunqiu all contain Chinese myths. Some myths survive in theatrical or literary formats as plays or novels, books in the shenmo genre of vernacular fiction revolve around gods and monsters. Examples include, Shangdi, also sometimes Huángtiān Dàdì, appeared as early as the Shang dynasty, in later eras, he was more commonly referred to as Huángtiān Shàngdì. The use of Huángtiān Dàdì refers to the Jade Emperor and Tian, Yu Di appeared in literature after the establishment of Taoism in China, his appearance as Yu Huang dates back to beyond the times of Yellow Emperor, Nüwa, or Fuxi. Tian appeared in literature c.700 BC, possibly earlier as dating depends on the date of the Shujing, there are no creation-oriented narratives for Tian. The qualities of Tian and Shangdi appear to have merged in later literature and are now worshiped as one entity in, for example, the extent of the distinction between Tian and Shangdi is debated. Nüwa appeared in no earlier than c.350 BC. Her companion, Fuxi, was her brother and husband and they are sometimes worshiped as the ultimate ancestor of all humankind, and are often represented as half-snake, half-humans. It is sometimes believed that Nüwa molded humans from clay for companionship and she repaired the sky after Gong Gong damaged the pillar supporting the heavens. Pangu, written about by Taoist author Xu Zheng c.200 AD, was claimed to be the first sentient being and creator, “making the heavens and these legendary rulers ruled between c.2850 BC to 2205 BC, before the Xia dynasty. The list of names comprising the Three August Ones and Five Emperors vary widely among sources, Emperor Ku, great-grandson of the Huang Emperor and nephew of Zhuanxu. Yao, son of Ku, Yaos elder brother succeeded Ku, Shun, successor of Yao, who passed over his own son and made Shun his successor because of Shuns ability and morality. These rulers are generally regarded as morally upright and benevolent, examples to be emulated by latter day kings, historically, when Qin Shi Huang united China in 221 BC, he felt that his achievements had surpassed those of all the rulers who had gone before him. He combined the ancient titles of Huáng and Dì to create a new title, Huángdì, Shun passed on his place as emperor to Yu the Great
6.
Sun
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The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99. 86% of the total mass of the Solar System. About three quarters of the Suns mass consists of hydrogen, the rest is mostly helium, with smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star based on its spectral class and it formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into a disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core and it is thought that almost all stars form by this process. The Sun is roughly middle-aged, it has not changed dramatically for more than four billion years and it is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large enough to engulf the current orbits of Mercury, Venus, and probably Earth. The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times, the synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of the solar calendar, which is the predominant calendar in use today. The English proper name Sun developed from Old English sunne and may be related to south, all Germanic terms for the Sun stem from Proto-Germanic *sunnōn. The English weekday name Sunday stems from Old English and is ultimately a result of a Germanic interpretation of Latin dies solis, the Latin name for the Sun, Sol, is not common in general English language use, the adjectival form is the related word solar. The term sol is used by planetary astronomers to refer to the duration of a solar day on another planet. A mean Earth solar day is approximately 24 hours, whereas a mean Martian sol is 24 hours,39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. From at least the 4th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the Sun was worshipped as the god Ra, portrayed as a falcon-headed divinity surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent. In the New Empire period, the Sun became identified with the dung beetle, in the form of the Sun disc Aten, the Sun had a brief resurgence during the Amarna Period when it again became the preeminent, if not only, divinity for the Pharaoh Akhenaton. The Sun is viewed as a goddess in Germanic paganism, Sól/Sunna, in ancient Roman culture, Sunday was the day of the Sun god. It was adopted as the Sabbath day by Christians who did not have a Jewish background, the symbol of light was a pagan device adopted by Christians, and perhaps the most important one that did not come from Jewish traditions
